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While rapid increase in demand for foods but limited availability of croplands has forced to adopt input-intensive farming practices to increase yield, there are serious long-term ecological implications including degradation of biodiversity. It is increasingly recognised that ensuring agricultural sustainability under the changing climatic conditions requires a change in the production system along with necessary policies and institutional arrangements. In this context, this chapter examines if climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can facilitate adaptation and mitigation practices by improving resource utilisation efficiency in India. Such an attempt has special significance as the existing studies have very limited discussions on three main aspects, viz., resource productivity, adaptation practices and mitigation strategies in a comprehensive manner. Based on insights from the existing studies, this chapter points out that CSA can potentially make significant contribution to enhancing resource productivity, adaptation practices, mitigation strategies and food security, especially among the land-constrained farmers who are highly prone to environmental shocks. In this connection, staggered trench irrigation structure has facilitated rainwater harvesting, local irrigation and livelihood generation in West Bengal. However, it is necessary to revisit the existing approaches to promotion of CSA and dissemination of information on the design of local adaptation strategies. This chapter also proposes a change in the food system from climate-sensitive to CSA through integration of technologies, institutions and policies.

This study examines the perceptions of 41 corporate chief accountants from Bahrain on the issues relating to the relative importance of international accounting topics in Bahrain. The study indicates a significant interest of the respondents in internationalizing the accounting curriculum. The topics which received importance rating of over 80% were: foreign investment and decision making, international accounting standards, financial reporting and disclosure, foreign currency transactions and translation, management information system (MIS) for multinational enterprises (MNEs), and consolidations. Results were also compared to a recent study from United States (US) and significant differences were found to exist in respect of several topics. The reasons for the major differences in the perceptions are explained in this paper, some of which may be attributed to cultural as well as environmental differences. The study also found that there is a strong support for adoption of the International Accounting Standards (IASs) because international markets are becoming increasingly important and there exists major differences in accounting principles among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries themselves. Furthermore, the study also suggests that in view of the similarity in social, economic, and business practices in GCC countries, the highly ranked accounting topics reported in this study should perhaps be incorporated by the accounting departments of universities operating in the GCC region. This will facilitate the process of harmonization of the accounting curriculum in this region.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the benefits of contract farming (CF) on farmers’ income and adoption of food safety measures (FSMs) at the farm level. The paper also investigates the determinants of participation in CF.

The study is based on a survey of 600 tomato farmers from Nepal. Descriptive statistics, regression analysis (using instrumental variable) and propensity score matching have been used to accomplish the objectives of the study.

The study found that the CF ensures higher returns to farmers as well as higher adoption of FSMs at the farm level. The contract farmers earned about 38 per cent higher net returns and had 38 per cent higher adoption of FSM as compared to independent farmers. Caste, occupation, farm size and cropping intensity significantly affected farmers’ participation in CF.

The analysis based on cross-section data has limitations to consider unobserved farmer-level individual heterogeneity.

This study will provide an empirical base to promote CF in Nepal. The study will also contribute to bridge the gap in literature on the drivers of CF and its impact on smallholders’ income and compliance with FSM in Nepal.

The support structures of sacrificial material are built in deposition-based additive manufacturing (AM), which are later removed either by breaking or dissolving. Such a sacrificial material is not feasible in metal AM. The purpose of this study is to find a suitable method for eliminating the need of support mechanism. In this work, the authors use the tilting of the substrate to alleviate the need for the support mechanism altogether.

As in the traditional AM, the object is grown in horizontal layers. However, wherever undercuts are encountered, the substrate is tilted appropriately to capture the droplets. Such a tilt involves two rotary axes invariably. To conform to the slice geometry, these two tilts are accompanied by the three linear movements. Thus, the object with undercuts is grown in planar layers using five-axis deposition without any support structure. Each pair of the corresponding top and bottom contours of any slice defines a ruled surface. The axis of the deposition head will be aligned with the rules of this surface.

The need for the support mechanism was eliminated using five-axis deposition. This was experimentally demonstrated by building an aluminum impeller using a metal inert gas cladding head.

In the proposed methodology, the objects with an abrupt change in the geometry are not possible to realize.

This manuscript proposed a novel method of eliminating the support mechanism through continuous five-axis deposition.

This study aims to analyze the long-run dynamic relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth for developing nations.

This study develops a comprehensive financial inclusion index based on the UNDP methodology for 53 developing nations. The authors use second-generation unit root tests, cointegration techniques and an advanced dynamic common correlated effects estimator model called cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) to examine long-run dynamics among variables.

The tests confirm the presence of slope-heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. The second-generation panel unit root tests show the chosen variables are stationary at first difference. The bootstrap Westerlund cointegration result shows the variables are cointegrated in the long run. The CS-ARDL estimates conclude that financial inclusion positively enhances gross domestic product per capita in selected developing countries. The robustness check through augmented mean group estimation validates the findings.

The study makes three important contributions: first, it constructs a comprehensive financial inclusion index using 10 variables for a panel of 53 developing nations; second, the potential cross-section dependence and slope heterogeneity of panel data have been accounted for by applying the second-generation unit root tests; third, the study uses the dynamic common correlated effects estimator model (CS-ARDL) to examine long-run dynamics among variables.

This paper examines India's socio-economic attributes and different financial dimensions of financial inclusion (FI).

The paper uses a principal component analysis (PCA) to build indexes related to financial dimensions. It applies the logistics regression model and the Fairlie decomposition method to determine India's socio-economic and financial characteristics of FI.

Based on the logistic regression, socio-economic factors like age, gender, marital status, level of education and religion have an impact on FI. The use of financial institutions has positively contributed to the probability of FI, while the low proximity of financial service providers retards the process of FI. Fairlie decomposition concludes regional disparity and gender disparity in FI; however, the rural–urban gap in FI is not captured by the variables included in the study. The main reasons for the discrepancy are lack of education, financial literacy, the proximity of financial service providers and lack of financial institutions.

This paper makes two important contributions: first, it presents a micro-level analysis of FI across the socio-demographic strata of India, and second, it demonstrates the regional, rural–urban and gender disparity in FI in India.

In the knowledge management (KM) literature, there are umpteen discussions on knowledge sharing; however, the scholarly community still faces a dearth of literature on knowledge hiding behavior (KHB) and its determinants. The current study aims to examine the direct effect of dark triad (DT) personality dimensions (machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) on KHB dimensions (rationalized hiding, evasive hiding and playing dumb). Drawing on social control theory, this study also explores the moderating effect of workplace spirituality (WS) on the direct relationship between DT and KHB.

Using purposive sampling, 281 matched-pair datasets from faculty members working with higher education institutions (HEI) in India have been obtained. The direct relationship has been tested through regression analysis and moderation analysis has been performed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.

The study has successfully mapped DT dimensions with KHB dimensions, and it is observed that machiavellians mostly use evasive hiding, narcissists believe in rationalized hiding and paying dumb is mostly used by psychopaths. Workplace spirituality (WS) weakens the direct relationship between DT and KHB.

HEIs are advised to foster a climate conducive to WS by getting faculty to realize that their job is something larger than themselves through developing a sense of community among faculty members.

This empirical study extends the KM literature and expands the scope of bridging the gaps on KHB. It is one of the few studies to examine the impact of DT on KHB with WS as a moderator in HEIs.

In this paper, we examine the factors that are likely to explain the use of the internet as a vehicle for voluntary financial reporting by companies in Bahrain and Kuwait. A total of 75 companies (Kuwait 42 and Bahrain 33) were investigated to find out if they had websites and presented their financial statements on the internet. For Kuwait, 47.6% and for Bahrain 48.5% of sample companies had their own websites. Six variables were tested to examine their influence on the financial reporting by companies on the internet. A discriminant analysis was performed on the data and the results indicated that size (log of total assets) and industry were the main factors which influenced the financial reporting practices of companies on the internet. These results are in line with prior evidence. There is some indication that risk may also contribute to some extent in such decision. Perceptions of advantages and problems in using this new technology for financial reporting were also examined. It appears that the usage of this technology is still limited and slow in this part of the world, perhaps because of cultural dimensions and constraints.

Using the extant literature review, this paper aims to explore the relationship between gender, entrepreneurial education (EE) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) in the Indian context, which the authors believe is a novel approach to this research stream. The authors also use career preparedness as a control variable to examine this relationship.

Data were collected from 368 undergraduate students across four Indian universities (one exclusively for female students) through a standard structured questionnaire. Additionally, rather than examining, EI has been treated as a monolithic construct; however, the authors conceptualize it as comprising three different dimensions that include grand vision and risk-taking ability; opportunity exploitation; and ability to persevere. An additional analysis was conducted for the students who reported higher scores for “being well prepared for their careers” through their institutes’ academic programs and communities of entrepreneurs. The authors also interviewed some entrepreneurship instructors, who confirmed the present findings through their observations.

The findings indicate that, essentially, there is a positive relationship between EE and EI. The authors find that male students scored higher for the first two dimensions of EI but not the third. Additionally, the authors used career preparedness as a control variable for additional analysis. The authors observed that students with higher “career preparedness” reported a positive relationship between EE and EI, independent of gender, for all three dimensions of EI. Thus, it may be assumed that if a community of entrepreneurs needs to be developed in India, a focus on career preparedness is critical.

First, given that the present survey reflected a single moment in linking EE to EI (which may be considered a limitation of the study), future researchers might focus on a longitudinal approach. Second, all the respondents are attending urban universities (and, as such, very likely belong to the upper middle class of Indian society). The financial divide between urban and rural India is well known; as such, the results might be different if the sample was drawn from rural and poor India.

The salience/value of this study lies in the conceptualization of EI comprising three sub-constructs to understand the impact of formal EE (with three sub-constructs) on EI. The focus on career preparedness for a female student is a new direction of inquiry with respect to entrepreneurial intention.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and define the types of organizational alignment – vertical and horizontal; to examine the evidence for the alignment‐performance relationship, and propose research questions and practical implications to advance the theory and practice of managing alignment.

The study is a conceptual examination based on a thorough review of both theoretical and empirical research.

The paper finds that vertical alignment has received considerably more attention in the literature. Studies of horizontal alignment within organizations are less common. When horizontal alignment is studied, the focus tends to be dyadic – between two functional areas. The limitations posed by the dyadic approach suggest gaps in the research and opportunities for future research. As firms grow and diversify, becoming multi‐business organizations, the importance of horizontal alignment will be elevated.

Research on vertical alignment should focus on developing larger sets of moderating variables, such as the morale of the workforce, or the life cycle of the firm or industry. Research on horizontal alignment should explore multi‐point horizontal alignment.

Managers in organizations with multiple strategic business units could use the application questions in the study to assess the state of alignment in their respective units and the organization as a whole.

The paper documents existing literature on the concept of organizational alignment and identifies new opportunities to continue to build and expand the research stream. It also provides a list of application questions that may be used to assess organizational alignment in organizations.